What? No-one's done a WCDT yet? Okay, let me throw something together... Done! Silly little poll basically derived from my fan-fiction idea that I recently posted. Just to let you know that I voted for Momo because she has all the right skills (sword-fighting) attitudes (she's one for fairness, peace and justice, after all) and even has a super-power (her internal taser system)!

Looking at today's strip, I find myself worrying that Brun will be taking notes about Clinton and Claire's interaction and assuming that this is a desirable type of interaction for siblings to have!

Claire shouldn't be so hostile but Clinton did have to bring bring up all of her stressors in one sentence, didn't he? What I love about this is the fact that he realised that he'd probably said the wrong thing about this and desperately tried to back-pedal. Not very well but I suppose that the thought is supposed to count in this circumstance.

FWIW, I wonder if this arc is going to end with Brun asking Clinton why he isn't worried about his finals. She tells a horror story about how difficult and hand-to-mouth being in the food service industry is that actually creates his very own Final Exam Stress syndrome. She'll then nod and say "Now go and study like your sister because you don't want to have my life!"

Yeah, Claire needs to cool it. I understand that she is under a lot of stress, but instead of jumping down Clinton's throat she should be happy that her brother has been able to tackle some challenging topics. It may just be me, but I believe she is the one who is the dickbat here.

Yeah, Claire needs to cool it. I understand that she is under a lot of stress, but instead of jumping down Clinton's throat she should be happy that her brother has been able to tackle some challenging topics. It may just be me, but I believe she is the one who is the dickbat here.

I'm trying to work out whether Clinton has actually studied for his exams, or if he's just confabulating in a panic because Claire's caught him unprepared. We've seen Marigold having a discussion about Crawl with Dale before they got together, so presumably dcss and it's gods share a universe with QC.. so does that mean that a bunch of important AI theories are named after gods from a computer game?

I'm trying to work out whether Clinton has actually studied for his exams, or if he's just confabulating in a panic because Claire's caught him unprepared. We've seen Marigold having a discussion about Crawl with Dale before they got together, so presumably dcss and it's gods share a universe with QC.. so does that mean that a bunch of important AI theories are named after gods from a computer game?

It really wouldn't surprise me, now that I think about it that way.

Welcome, new person!

It might have been the other way around. The game designers in the QC universe might have named the gods after AI theorists.

This strip is not making Claire come across well, like if I hadn't read any of her backstory she'd come across (to me anyway) as quite entitled and a bit selfish

I mean you can study in a bakery or coffee shop but to expect those places of business to be quiet just so you can study in peace is a little much, if its that big a deal she could go to a public library or something?

I'm actually kind of the opposite of Brun in this regard. I'm not great at remembering specific facts - when was the Magna Carta signed? 1200-something? - but I'm good at remembering the general idea of things - The Magna Carta was signed, and it limited the King's power.

I always did great on tests with very little effort. In a multiple choice question, if you're asking me when William the Conqueror invaded England, and one of the choices is 1066, I'll get that right, I'll recognize seeing that date. (while trying to wikipedia this, it took a few minutes, because I thought it was 1266). If it's an essay, I can say "in the early part of the millenium..." and then go on to talk about "the battles" and their lasting effects on England.

I see the "general idea" of things. I see facts, I read about facts, I see how they fit into the picture I have of the thing they're relative to, then I forget the specific facts but remember the impact, and when I see more facts, I can fit them into the picture while forgetting their specifics. When given a choice, I can usually recognize the specifics I've seen, but I can't remember them without prompting.

My major weakness was always length and citations, they'd want like a dozen pages of essay, and I could make the point in a page or two. And the citations...again, I remember the general idea of things; I'd always be writing that, and then I'd have to try to find a quote I could shove in their like a giant dildo that didn't interrupt the flow of what I was saying. The best that you could say of most of my citations was that they were pointless.

Anyway, for me, opposite of Brun; the facts aren't in my head, I could get the idea to go on the paper just fine, but then it needed far more to actually pass.

Edit: Well I'll be damned. I quizzed myself: when was the Magna Carta signed? My guess was 1214, and Wikipedia says 1215. I'm not usually that close.

This strip is not making Claire come across well, like if I hadn't read any of her backstory she'd come across (to me anyway) as quite entitled and a bit selfish

I mean you can study in a bakery or coffee shop but to expect those places of business to be quiet just so you can study in peace is a little much, if its that big a deal she could go to a public library or something?

That's the classic Western World double standard at work.

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and the universe said you are not alone and the universe said you are not separate from every other thing

This was a very strange strip in many ways. I can see where Jeph is going with it: Claire is basically saying that she has no idea what she would do with herself outside the specific context of working in a library in some way. However, the presentation is very awkward and he seems instead to prefer focussing on Claire's social awkwardness and the fact that Brun (level headed as she is) doesn't take offence at something Claire says that Claire clearly thinks is offensive, based on her sudden back-pedalling.

Or, you know, a certain college library where she used to work. That might be a workable solution.

QC's Smif Library is a den of vice and debauchery, according to both Claire and Tai. There is far too much chance that there is going to be a spontaneous house party going down or Tai having a loud conversation with someone that only exists thanks to some hallucinogen that she has taken. Even if that doesn't happen, Marten is likely going to be there and how is Claire supposed to concentrate with such a distraction as that?

This strip is not making Claire come across well, like if I hadn't read any of her backstory she'd come across (to me anyway) as quite entitled and a bit selfish

I mean you can study in a bakery or coffee shop but to expect those places of business to be quiet just so you can study in peace is a little much, if its that big a deal she could go to a public library or something?

Beneath the surface, Claire is awkward as hell.

In a bakery or coffee shop you have background noise, not distractions. Well, admittedly, it might get loud at points, but given Renée's info there won't be many people around.. And it's not the usual spot, so that may help, too.

One thing I have learned as an introvert: although I don't need people and social interaction, humanity is still a pack animal. Even if you have like no interaction with them, having people around you prevents you from going nuts.

Yeah, Claire needs to cool it. I understand that she is under a lot of stress, but instead of jumping down Clinton's throat she should be happy that her brother has been able to tackle some challenging topics. It may just be me, but I believe she is the one who is the dickbat here.

Claire is studying for her final finals, and that's a wholly different scenario than just your random end of semester finals. To me it sounds like Clinton has some topics he's generally really interested in coming up in his exams, which makes studying easier.

I don't think Claire is afraid of the exams as the exams per se, it's more the perceived lack of alternatives and expectations to be held up.

I don't think Claire is afraid of the exams as the exams per se, it's more the perceived lack of alternatives and expectations to be held up.

Claire is, like a lot of people coming to the end of schooling, afraid of the future. Up until now, she's been 'Claire the Student' and that has been a nice, secure and easy label. Shortly, she is going to be what? Claire the librarian? Claire the barrista? Claire the retail clerk? Claire the unemployed woman who everyone is whispering is mooching off of her boyfriend? She doesn't know those answers and the anxiety - fearing the unknown future - is probably the strongest fear she's encountered for quite a while.

This strip is not making Claire come across well, like if I hadn't read any of her backstory she'd come across (to me anyway) as quite entitled and a bit selfish

I mean you can study in a bakery or coffee shop but to expect those places of business to be quiet just so you can study in peace is a little much, if its that big a deal she could go to a public library or something?

That's the classic Western World double standard at work.

Not sure I see the double-standard, did you maybe mean "first world problems"?

I must be weird, because I had two siblings growing up and we never insulted each other, and we certainly didn't physically fight. May've been the age gap (my brother was 5 years older than me, my sister is 11 years older), but still. We did fight a lot, but we didn't have a dynamic like the one shown in the comic.

Yeah, Claire needs to cool it. I understand that she is under a lot of stress, but instead of jumping down Clinton's throat she should be happy that her brother has been able to tackle some challenging topics. It may just be me, but I believe she is the one who is the dickbat here.

Claire is studying for her final finals, and that's a wholly different scenario than just your random end of semester finals. To me it sounds like Clinton has some topics he's generally really interested in coming up in his exams, which makes studying easier.

I don't think Claire is afraid of the exams as the exams per se, it's more the perceived lack of alternatives and expectations to be held up.

Yeah this is really it.

Studying for any run-of-the-mill exam is a completely different animal than having your final exam (or defense, like MS or PhD) come up.

With the first you may fear failing your exam, but even if you were to fail it you most likely won't suffer any big immediate consequences. You generally remain a student and have plenty of chances to either redo your exam or to just replace it with a different subject. With the latter, it's often not really a fear of failing, but a fear of passing and not knowing what the future brings. A fear of failing often is reserved to those who already have a nice job lined up that might be lost if failing the exam. A generally less common situation.

Studying for any run-of-the-mill exam is a completely different animal than having your final exam (or defense, like MS or PhD) come up.

If Claire is studying for a comprehensive final like some fields of study do, everything she's learned from day one could be on the exam. Having been through two thesis defenses, I think I'd prefer those to handling a comprehensive.

Yeah, I'm not seeing the parallels. If it were U.Shealthcare it would be $10,000 (or a $100 copay) for the bread, or $30,000 for an actual study aid (which wouldn't be covered under insurance). Also bad grades are a pre-existing condition.

This strip is not making Claire come across well, like if I hadn't read any of her backstory she'd come across (to me anyway) as quite entitled and a bit selfish

I mean you can study in a bakery or coffee shop but to expect those places of business to be quiet just so you can study in peace is a little much, if its that big a deal she could go to a public library or something?

That's the classic Western World double standard at work.

Not sure I see the double-standard, did you maybe mean "first world problems"?

I was specifically referring to the deeply ingrained behavioral double standard for men and women. Claire was being more harshly judged for her behavior than a guy might be. Even though most QC forumites are aware of and opposed to this double standard, it's still difficult to fight against.

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and the universe said you are not alone and the universe said you are not separate from every other thing

It's like "banana bread," isn't it? Try googling the phrase "difference between banana bread and banana cake" and read with amusement the various strained attempts to differentiate between the two. The Wikipedia entry for banana bread notes that it is "cake-like." Well, yes, it is awfully like cake, isn't it? How uncanny.

It's a triumph of marketing. By calling it thus, we can eat cake for breakfast and fool ourselves that we've made a healthful selection.

Edit: After posting, I just thought to myself, "I'm surprised they don't also call it carrot bread." *googles* "Oh, look at that, they do."

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"There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking." - Sir Joshua Reynolds (paraphrased)

Typically, though the distinction is pretty clear - bread does not contain significant amounts of eggs and sugar, whereas cake does. Of course, there are exceptions that fall between, but the fact that there is a fundamental difference towards the ends of the spectrum is plain.

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"Being human, having your health; that's what's important."(from: Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi )"As long as we're all living, and as long as we're all having fun, that should do it, right?"(from: The Eccentric Family )

Just to be clear, I'm not saying that there's any confusion in the difference between bread and cake. That's pretty clear, as you say.

What I'm talking about is the situation where various people call essentially the same product either "banana bread" or "banana cake." According to your distinction, it ought to be called "banana cake," but some insist on classifying it as a "quick bread."

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"There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking." - Sir Joshua Reynolds (paraphrased)

This strip is not making Claire come across well, like if I hadn't read any of her backstory she'd come across (to me anyway) as quite entitled and a bit selfish

I mean you can study in a bakery or coffee shop but to expect those places of business to be quiet just so you can study in peace is a little much, if its that big a deal she could go to a public library or something?

That's the classic Western World double standard at work.

Not sure I see the double-standard, did you maybe mean "first world problems"?

I was specifically referring to the deeply ingrained behavioral double standard for men and women. Claire was being more harshly judged for her behavior than a guy might be. Even though most QC forumites are aware of and opposed to this double standard, it's still difficult to fight against.

How is she being more harshly judged than a guy would be though? I mean, if a guy would expect a bakery/coffee shop to be quiet just so he can study in peace, he would also be thought of as entitled and selfish. Perhaps you have different experiences?

Typically, though the distinction is pretty clear - bread does not contain significant amounts of eggs and sugar, whereas cake does. Of course, there are exceptions that fall between, but the fact that there is a fundamental difference towards the ends of the spectrum is plain.

Yet here I sit thinking anything that is a bread, not to be confused by marketing hype [aka lies], has a not insignificant amount of gluten as a product of kneading somewhere in the process.

My thoughts are that products like banana bread ended up mislabelled due to marketing types not being all hat smart to begin with. My deductive reasoning is as follows;

these cakes are typically baked in loaf pans

loaf pans are normally used for baking loaves of bread

these cakes are typically sliced and served similarly to bread - butter optional

A brain fart by some marketing types thinking anything baked in a loaf pan means its bread

Marketing types are specialized in producing and shovelling wind

Remember: Common sense =/= good sense

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A good pun is it's own reword.There is a difference between spare parts, extra parts and left over parts.

The Venn diagram for Common Sense and Good Sense has very little, if any, overlap.

It's like "banana bread," isn't it? Try googling the phrase "difference between banana bread and banana cake" and read with amusement the various strained attempts to differentiate between the two. The Wikipedia entry for banana bread notes that it is "cake-like." Well, yes, it is awfully like cake, isn't it? How uncanny.

It's a triumph of marketing. By calling it thus, we can eat cake for breakfast and fool ourselves that we've made a healthful selection.

Edit: After posting, I just thought to myself, "I'm surprised they don't also call it carrot bread." *googles* "Oh, look at that, they do."

I have brioche for my breakfast almost every morning and I don't feel guilty at all. Does it count as cake? Oh wait, my baker calls it "pain brioché", now that you mention it. So it's fine, isn't it?